


A Very Virals Valentine's

by CasGetYourShotgun



Category: Virals Series - Kathy Reichs
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Future Fic, Movie Night, Post-Canon, Valentine's Day, Virals Secret Valentines Exchange, au where ella is not evil and is part of the pack, coop is a bit sick in this but nothing is wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:01:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29424954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CasGetYourShotgun/pseuds/CasGetYourShotgun
Summary: My contribution to the Virals Secret Valentines exchange, for the prompt 'I hate Valentine's Day'!
Relationships: Ben Blue/Victoria "Tory" Brennan, Shelton Devers & Hiram "Hi" Stolowitski & Ella Francis, Victoria "Tory" Brennan & Ben Blue & Cooper & Shelton Devers & Hiram "Hi" Stolowitski, Victoria "Tory" Brennan & Ella Francis
Kudos: 3





	A Very Virals Valentine's

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fandom Owl Trash](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Fandom+Owl+Trash).



> This takes place in a Happy AU wherein Terminal was a better book and Pacific Rim Uprising was a better film, because Ella deserved better and when have I ever passed up an opportunity to dunk on Upraisin?

Ben Blue  _ hates  _ Valentine's Day.

As far as he's concerned, it's a stupid piece of crap commercial trashfire. He's never understood why everyone behaves as if this one day is treated as the benchmark for how much you love somebody. (His parents used to go for dinner every February 14th, and look how that turned out for them.)

Fortunately for him, none of the rest of his pack like it much either. Hi and Shelton have been loudly lamenting their 'terminal datelessness' for as long as they've been interested in romance, Tory's always been utterly uninterested, and Ella swore off men forever after the Great Chance Claybourne Disaster. 'Forever' turned out to be just over a year, but she still distrusts socially mandated grand gestures on principle so as far as Ben's concerned it still counts, and whilst Jason and Madison are very much into Valentines' Day he will deny liking either of them until his dying day. Cooper, the lucky thing, lives in blissful ignorance on account of his being a dog.

They've been living crammed into the same apartment since college, or rather, the core Virals and Ella have, and Jason and Maddy have their own place but come over so frequently that they might as well be on the lease, and they've settled into a comfortable routine for That Day.

Jason and Madison go out for the stereotypical candlelit dinner at a fancy restaurant, and dress up nicely, and he holds the doors open for her and pulls out her chair for her and all that weird gendered crap because apparently that's a thing people do (holding the door for people is just polite, but she can pull out her own damn chair and most of the year she does, but something about Corporate Romance just rots people's brains).

Ella, Hi, and Shelton go to the cinema for Single People Movie Night and watch something as unromantic as possible before getting burgers and excitedly discussing whatever they just watched. This is a flawed endeavor, seeing as just about every film seems to have a shoehorned romantic subplot in it somewhere, but horror is generally a safe bet and all three of them love Guillermo del Toro. 'Single People Movie Night' is something of a misnomer, seeing as at least one of them has been dating someone on each night in question, but they regard it as a Sacred Institution (it's always capitalised when it's discussed in the Discord server) that is not to be interrupted for something as trivial as romance.

Tory and Ben...well, they  _ could  _ just stay home and take advantage of the lack of roommates, but it always feels too quiet in the apartment without the chaos of the pack around them, and so they walk down to the docks with Coop, and watch the sunset from  _ Sewee _ , and wait for the stars to come out if the sky is clear enough. And it is absolutely  _ not  _ a Valentine's date, not even slightly. Ben likes his boat and the sea and the stars, and Tory likes the stars and the sea and Ben, and Coop likes going for walks with his favourite people and stopping along the way in order to be petted by various other people, and it doesn't need to be anything more or less than the warmth of his wonderful girlfriend pressed against his side and their enormous wolfdog lying sprawled at their feet, and the rocking of the waves beneath them all. It's sweet, and simple, and costs nothing, and Ben would spend the rest of his life like this if he could.

* * *

This year, however, their happy routine is disrupted. 

Everything starts out as normal, with Hi and Shelton and Ella heading out for the first Single People Movie Night that can honestly be called that, all jingling of keys and 'See y'all later!' (Ella) and 'Bye, guys!' (Shelton) and 'USE PROTECTION!' (Hi), and Tory lacing up her sneakers as Ben grabs Coop's leash. 

And then Coop throws up. 

There isn't anything wrong with him, he's just eaten too much, but neither Tory nor Ben want to drag him outside and he doesn't seem in a hurry to move off the Best Couch anyway, so they end up sitting there with him and watching an episode of a wildlife documentary. Coop is utterly fascinated by the sea lions and is shamelessly exploiting Tory's concern in order to be cuddled and petted and fed treats. Neither she nor Ben are giving him any more food until morning, but they're both happy to give him the requested affection. And Ben has his girlfriend and their dog, and he can see the sea and the stars on TV, and it's not a bad way to spend an evening, aside from the dog vomit.

And then there's a commotion at the door and Shelton and Ella and Hi almost collapse inside, because apparently there was a mistake and the screening was overbooked, and they've been refunded and given replacement tickets for tomorrow afternoon, but that leaves them nothing to do this evening because nothing else playing appealed to all three of them.

They all fuss over Coop for a while, and then Hi suggests they just have a movie night at home instead.

They have movie nights most Saturdays, sometimes with Madison and Jason and sometimes without, but it seems like a good idea considering that none of them are going anywhere and at least one of them needs one eye on Coop. 

Half an hour later they're crammed together in comfy clothes and finishing the sea lion documentary, because Coop refused to let them watch anything else until after it was over, and none of them mind because sea lions are cute. Ben's at one end of the couch, with Tory beside him and Coop's head in her lap, with the rest of him taking up the rest of the space. The others make a nest out of pillows and blankets on the floor, Ella leaning against Tory's legs and Shelton between her and Hi, and their shared mindspace humming with  _ comfort _ . 

They re-watch  _ Pacific Rim _ , because it has mental bonds and friendship and family and dogs and  _ giant fucking robots punching giant fucking monsters _ , and is therefore an excellent choice for a pack movie night, and when that's over they order pizza and re-watch  _ Pacific Rim: Maelstrom _ and make fun of the terrible movie they almost made before del Toro stepped back in. They pause it at the scene where Mako and Jake are about to encounter Pentecost in the Drift because one of them needs to get the pizza, and then they carry on, and they make plans to go and see the third film as a group when it's released, and find some terrible movie to make fun of when  _ Maelstrom  _ is over, and it's  _ perfect _ , and they all go to bed warm and happy. 

Jason and Madison have a perfectly nice, utterly non-disastrous meal together. They're happy, and Ben doesn't begrudge them that. He's hate it, but it works for them. They can have their candlelit dinners and roses. He has his friends and his girlfriend and their dog and pizza and movie nights, and the sea and the stars.

And really, what could be better than that?

  
  
  



End file.
